the white house no longer really having any substantive conversations with house speaker john boehner or senate minority leader mitch mcconnell which is key in finding something to get through the senate and perhaps because of that, i guess some of that pessimism that you are hearing from republicans like senator brasso, shared by democrats. take a listen. >> i feel that it's more likely that we will go over the cliff than not and that -- if we allow that to happen, it will be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time, maybe ever in american history. >> so all eyes now on the senate, which will reconvene on thursday. senate majority leader harry reid has the task of trying to cobble something together that can get through, not only the senate, probably with republican support, but also through the house of representatives with some republican support. the white house still publicly saying they want the threshold for tax cuts to remain at $250,000 and below for folks to see tax cuts preserved what we hear from both sides, democrats and republi